Monday, June 20, 2011

Larwyn's Linx: Campaign to reelect Obama underway

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Nation

Campaign to reelect Obama underway: Pundette
Republicans Considering Transitory Debt Ceiling Hike: ZH
RLC straw poll's bizarre result: Payola involved?: Hot Air

Employers of illegals worried laws scaring away illegal workers: RWN
With DNC in Mind, City Bans Carrying Urine, Feces, Glitter: Driscoll
Google denies special deal for Barack Obama: Politico

WSJ: ATF Chief Likely To Be Ousted Over Gunwalker: Ace
Axelrod to drones: it's still cool to support Obama, I promise!: WZ
Bachmann Bashes Romney for Not Signing Pro-Life Pledge: LN

Economy

The American Recovery Act As Welfare Part II: VR
A Shovel-Unready President: RCP
The Euro-Zone’s Last Chance: Stock Sage

Shocker: Obama had no authority to waive GM's taxes: BlogProf
Companies leaving California in record numbers: Carpe Diem
Rick Perry vs. Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Instapundit

Climate & Energy

The EPA assault on Texas: Greenroom
Climate conference faces brush with reality: Hot Air
Republicans Flicker On Light Bulb Ban Repeal: AT

Media

The New York Times' Hit Piece on Clarence Thomas: Preparing for Obamacare's Failure: Instapundit
NBC omits ‘Under God’ from Pledge of Allegiance: Malkin
Fareed Zakaria: Let’s use Facebook and Twitter to create a 21st century Constitution: DC

Look what else is hanging out in the Weiners’ closet: GayPatriot
Failed Outgoing NY Times Editor Bill Keller Says 'Journalists Would Recoil In Horror' If Palin Ran For President: WZ
Leftist ‘Guru” Deepak Chopra Mocks Sarah Palin in Angry Rant: GWP

World

President Obama Rejected DOJ and DOD Advice, and Sided with Harold Koh, on War Powers Resolution: Lawfare
Mufti of Lebanon Calls Palestinian Refugees "Trash": Ricochet
Islamist Group And ACLU Team Up To Fight 'Anti-Sharia Bills': WZ

The Economics of Settlement: Gilder
Our Friends the Chinese: Ricochet
The Muslim Brotherhood and Weiner: AT

Iranian Commander: ‘We Have Infiltrated America and the UK’: Kahlili
Understanding Online Radicalization: The Jihadi Forums: PJM
Overlapping Layers of Incompetency: SDA

SciTech

Hit the deck: LulzSec and Anonymous start trading blows: VentureBeat
Better 21 years late than never: Engadget
‘How Kindle Is Changing the Way a Reader Reads Books’: Driscoll

Cornucopia

Happy Father's Day: Pundette
How to wake up your girlfriend: C&S
How to get exit row seats (chart): Airfare Watchdog

Tweet Me! No, Really!: MOTUS
The Conspiracy of Kennedy Conspiracists: Ace
Don't get your yarbles caught in this machine: NatLamp

Image: Six Meat Buffet
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Michele Bachmann for President


Sunday, June 19, 2011

EU set to implode thanks to failed socialist welfare-state policies and shortage of hopenchange, but mostly failed socialist welfare-state policies

The European Union's can-kicking road appears at an end. And the road terminates at a cliff that would strike fear into Wile E. Coyote's heart. Robert Sinn lists the challenges facing Greece and, by logical extension, the entire financial system. Hint: it ain't gonna end well.

Challenges facing Greece:

• Debt/GDP ratio of over 150%, forecast to be 170% by 2013.
• An uncompetitive economy with only two primary economic drivers: Tourism and shipping.
• Greek government revenue declined sharply in May 2011 while government spending rose sharply, leading to a large step backward and a further widening of the deficit.

• A government which is in turmoil and a population that feels betrayed by politicians and the Greek elite.
• Widespread public outrage against proposed EU/IMF austerity measures and state asset sales; 76% of Greek citizens believe government measures cannot fix the economy, 74% of Greek citizens want a renegotiation of the 2010 bailout terms.
• A culture of pervasive tax evasion which won’t change overnight
• A bloated & inefficient public sector which has run up a significant percentage of the debt that currently plagues Greece
• The last and probably most controversial bullet point – A failure of the private sector in Greece to move the country forward and to become competitive with other EU economies. Greece suffers from entrenched cultural handicaps such as the widespread practice of nepotism in corporations and small businesses. Say what you will about the United States, the great strength of American business is a culture of meritocracy which has rewarded the best and the brightest who have achieved and innovated. Young talented Greeks who do not benefit from having a wealthy pedigree aspire to work in the public sector, not the private sector. This is the polar opposite of the United States where highly skilled/talented individuals strive to remain in the private sector and to start their own businesses...

...EU leaders have one last chance to at least attempt to save the euro-zone by cutting Greece’s debt in half and spreading the losses around throughout all parties involved (ECB, EU, private creditors i.e. banks etc.) and creating a federal fiscal authority similar to the US Treasury. Of course, there is much more to be done but this would be a good start...

Of course, there is little chance that will happen. The reason for the months of can-kicking is simple: recognizing a Greek debt default would touch off a banking contagion and -- ultimately -- recognition that Europe's remaining socialist welfare states are all headed into the crapper.

Mohammed El-Erian, the head of the world's largest bond fund, said early today that something's got to change because throwing more money at the problem simply isn't working.

“After a year, every indicator has unfortunately worsened, despite the incredible quantity of financial assistance,” he was quoted saying...

"All of this has terrible human consequences and it's associated with a transfer of liabilities from private creditors to European taxpayers. Why? Very little is being done to deal with the excess of public debt, and the conditions for higher growth are not being put in place," he said. "Further on, if this approach is kept up, more money will be wasted to save private creditors and the risk of a disorderly restructuring of the debt will be greater."

Greece is bankrupt.

Loaning it more money is insanity, plain and simple.

And this is America's future, should sane leaders -- Constitutional conservatives -- not grab the reins of power. And fast.


How to triple the ratings of '60 Minutes'

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I'm Morley Safer. They told us they needed $787 billion to fix the economy -- $2,500 for every family in America. But unemployment continues to skyrocket and many wonder: what happened to the hundreds of billions of dollars? When we investigated, we found that no one really knows. And the corruption, graft and criminality we discovered were surprising -- even for us.

I'm Steve Kroft. Barack Obama authored an amazing autobiography called Dreams from my Father. But one man has unearthed overwhelming evidence that Obama didn't actually write his own book. And the name of the real author might surprise you, he says: Bill Ayers. The domestic terrorist and one-time neighbor to the President.

And I'm Mike Wallace. The promises were grandiose. Transparency. No lobbyists in the White House. Leaving Iraq. Ending NSA wiretaps. No more 'wars of choice'. Post-partisanship. But the realities have shaken even the President's most committed supporters. Now Democrats are asking: is the President a serial liar?

That and Andy Rooney, tonight. On 60 Minutes.

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Linked by: Six Meat Buffet. Thanks!

Say, I'm new to Saudi Arabia. Can you point me to the nearest church?

Why is it that when legacy media discusses the Middle East, tolerance applies to only one side?





Perhaps someone could ask the dolts in legacy media.


Daily Beast shocked that Jerry Brown is leading California to fiscal disaster; blames state's collapse on ...(wait for it)... Republicans

The Daily Beast (I read it so you don't have to) appears to be the magazine equivalent of Michael Moore. It is so unhinged and so laced with nutwhackery that it reads more like a National Lampoon spoof of liberal dementia than an ostensibly serious periodical.

Case in point: some kook named Joe Mathews, if that is his real name, offers the following salient observations about the failed blue state of California. Now, recall, California is dominated at every level of government by Democrats, public sector unions and the illegal alien lobby. But I repeat myself.

Jerry Brown's argument for his return to the California governorship was that as a 73-year-old politician, too old to worry about his political future, he would throw caution to wind, force partisans of left and right to negotiate, and tame this state’s famously out-of-control budget.

But his first six months in office have looked nothing like this. Brown’s experience has been no match for the difficult task that confronts Democrats in Washington and around the country: how to, at a time of austerity, protect programs and secure more taxes in the face of opposition from anti-tax Republicans. Brown has made concession after concession—cutting billions, agreeing to negotiate new legal limits on spending and pensions—without securing any agreement for additional revenues, even temporary taxes that would be subject to a vote of the people. In the process, he has alienated his own party.

Brown’s story so far shows that low-key negotiation and concession does not get you much from Republicans in this era... Brown [is required] to get votes from Republicans, even though Democrats control the governorship, both houses of the legislature, and every other statewide office...

[Some] voices... suggest Brown is gutless. Republicans, ungrateful despite Brown’s concessions, say they couldn’t reach a deal with Brown because the governor did not have the courage to embrace new limits on spending and pensions that the GOP wants in the agreement—but that powerful public employee unions oppose...

Here's a little cheat sheet for Mathews:

Brown is owned by the public sector unions and the racial separatist front groups like La Raza.

But it is the public sector unions -- not the Republicans -- who are bankrupting the state; and clearly Brown is too timid and too partisan to confront them.

It is sanctuary cities and open borders policies -- not the Republicans -- that are swelling school and prison populations while driving up health care and welfare costs.

It is a bizarre green agenda (that even denies water to farmers) -- not the Republicans -- that is destroying one of the most fertile, bountiful areas on Earth.

Sure, numb-skull, California could raise taxes on the productive sector of society; and that will simply drive more taxpaying citizens and businesses out of the state -- just as it did in another blue state success story called "New York".

But unless California can honestly confront the fiscal time-bomb represented by public sector union benefits, illegal aliens and the eco-Marxists, the state is flat-out doomed.

Oh, and Mathews: why doesn't Texas have this same problem, schmuck?


Exclusive Photos: President Obama Traverses the Country During His Third Annual Summer-of-Recovery™ Tour

He truly feels your pain.










Just be sure not to show this chart to the drones.


Larwyn's Linx: ATF Fast & Furious: Worse than a nightmare

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Project Gunrunner

ATF Fast & Furious: Worse than a nightmare: Tatler
Administration's Gunrunner Comments Strain Credulity: PJM
Head of ATF is likely to go: WSJ

Gunrunner's Real Agenda: NoisyRoom
Issa Believes DOJ Engaging in Gunrunning Coverup: Bruce
Gunwalker Scandal Special Edition: CorrComm

Nation

Another Chapter In The Declarant Presidency: Hewitt
Michele Bachmann Sets A Very High Bar at Right Online: RS
Liberal Flashmob and Publicity Stunt At RightOnline: RWN

DeMint creates litmus test for 2012 field: Hill
MO Dem Governor Nixon Vetoes Voter ID Bill: GWP
Gov. Rick Perry’s amazing speech to RLC 2011: Scoop

Economy

The American Recovery Act As Welfare: VirtRep
Obama's higher minimum wage will hurt young blacks: WinKnight
The beauty of capitalism: anyone can become rich: EIB

Thanks, Barack: IMF Cuts US Forecast, Warns of Crisis: GWP
Dept. of Education cracks down on for-profit colleges: PJM
The Pace of an Economic Recovery: Commentary

Climate & Energy

All Aboard the Global Warming Money Train!: Ace
Warmist Chip Ward: West Was Lost Due To Globull Warming: RWN
2011 Chevrolet Volt Vs 2011 Nissan Leaf: 7,000 Miles Later: Green Car Reports

Media

What Writing A Book Taught Me About Obama And Those Who Followed Him: ZH
Lefty Feminists Expose Themselves by Putting Out for Weiner: Ziganto
Obama is Dukakis: The Data Supports My Instincts? : ConTeach

Post debate presidential scoreboard: Surber
Blaming "politically correct" textbooks for the widespread ignorance about history: Althouse
Adam Smith, pins, ATMs, and Obama: Marathon

Panetta Report 3: Leon Panetta and the Santa Cruz Socialists: Loudon
Standing Up Against Islamonazism: Zilla
Obamanomics: Teenage Flash Mob Robberies on the Rise: Fox

World

Redistributing Freedom to Tyranny: Knish
UNRWA Unleashes More Slanders of Israel: Commentary
Islamic cultural terrorism: Condell

Mexicans tunneling into US: WZ
Dictator of the Month: King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia : AllGov
Security Fail… Illegal Immigrant With Stolen ID Discovered Working As Flight Attendant: GWP

Leon Panetta, U.S. Defense Secretary Nominee, Linked to Communist, Anti-Semitic Group: AmPower
USPS Stops Accepting Mail To Canada: ZH
Moody's threat to downgrade Italian debt raises eurozone contagion fears: Telegraph

SciTech

Pulling Electricity from the Air to Charge Devices: RefBrok
A suddenly growing liver disease: Instapundit
Brand-To-Fan Connector, Crowdtap, Hits $1 Million Revenue With 115,000 Members: TechCrunch

Cornucopia

Overseen in the Library: AmDigest
MUSIC VIDEO: “It’s Gettin’ Real in the Whole Foods Parking Lot”: NatLamp
Five Unforgettable Moments from the Obama-Boehner Golf Game: NatJournal

No, Don't Tell Me!: C&S
'Golf Summit' Saturday: Malkin
Reagan's Joke: Denny

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Give A Father’s Day Gift That Remembers Their Sacrifice

QOTD: "Never has so much power been invested in a man about whom so little was known, over whose nefarious past associations was made or even questioned, and who presented so few real-world accomplishments as to not even have a resume worth note. But he possessed two key skills that come in handy during times of economic and social upheaval: 1) His ability to speak forcefully while offering little but platitudes to whip up an audience eager to be led; and 2) a ruthless pragmatism that would compel him to say and do whatever it took to present an image that would best gain him the levers of power.

But that’s okay because Obama knew what was best, even if the average Joe (except a certain plumber) did not, you see. A new golden age of top-down management of our daily lives radiating out of the central state in Washington, D.C. for which we would eventually be grateful. All the people had to do was submit and get in line with the program. Many did willingly. Blindly. Fooled by a personality cult whose statist tendencies remained hidden by a fawning state media/propaganda complex." --Brad Schaeffer

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Correlation between a person's mind and his desk

Jasmine sent this one in:

Saw these photos on the Internet about the correlation between a person's mind and his desk...

(William F. Buckley)

(Nat Hentoff)

(Albert Einstein)

(Community Organizer)

Linked by: Instapundit, thanks! (what does the InstaDesk say about Dr. Reynolds?)

The Coming Crime Wave

Caution: this is not a snarky post. Zero-percent snark. I want to connect a few dots for you. Additional caution: you may want to sit down.

* * * * * * * * *

 1  USA Today headline: Record number in government anti-poverty programs

Government anti-poverty programs... now serve a record one in six Americans and are continuing to expand... More than 50 million Americans are on Medicaid, the federal-state program aimed principally at the poor...

...More than 40 million people get food stamps, an increase of nearly 50% during the economic downturn, according to government data through May. The program has grown steadily for three years...

...Close to 10 million receive unemployment insurance, nearly four times the number from 2007. Benefits have been extended by Congress eight times beyond the basic 26-week program, enabling the long-term unemployed to get up to 99 weeks of benefits. Caseloads peaked at nearly 12 million in January — "the highest numbers on record," says Christine Riordan of the National Employment Law Project, which advocates for low-wage workers.

More than 4.4 million people are on welfare, an 18% increase during the recession...

In February 2009 Robert Rector, quoted in the London Sunday Times, predicted that the Obama Democrats' expansion of welfare, food stamps and unemployment would be disastrous.

One of the few undisputed triumphs of American government of the past 20 years – the sweeping welfare reform programme that sent millions of dole claimants back to work – has been plunged into jeopardy by billions of dollars in state handouts included in the president’s controversial economic stimulus package...

...Robert Rector, a prominent welfare researcher who was one of the architects of Clinton's 1996 reform bill, warned last week that Obama’s stimulus plan was a “welfare spendathon” that would amount to the largest one-year increase in government handouts in American history... Despite dire warnings that reduced benefits for single mothers and deadlines on entitlement would create a social calamity – one liberal senator warned at the time that children would be “sleeping on grates” – the 1996 reforms cut welfare rolls from more than 5m families in 1995 to below 2m a decade later without a discernible increase in hardship.

In other words, the Obama 'Stimulus' program was intended to massively expand the welfare state. But wait! There's more!

* * * * * * * * *

 2  Increasing welfare and food stamps leads to more kids born to unwed mothers

The statistical link between the availability of welfare and out-of-wedlock births is conclusive. There have been dozens of studies that link the availability of welfare benefits to out-of-wedlock births.

One study found that a 50 percent increase in the value of AFDC and foodstamp payments led to a 43 percent increase in the number of out-of-wedlock births.

A 1996 paper describes the correlation in ominous terms.

...Out-of-wedlock births are strongly related to welfare dependency. A 1 percent increase in the welfare dependent population in a state increases the number of births to single mothers by about 0.5 percent...

...Welfare dependency reduces employment. A 1 percent increase in the dependent population increases the number who are not employed by about 0.1 percent... An increase in welfare benefits reduces employment by increasing the number of welfare dependents. An increase in AFDC benefits by 1 percent of average income increases the number who are not employed by about 0.5.

In other words, if you ratchet up welfare benefits, you get reduced employment and more single-parent families.

Now, why am I telling you this?

* * * * * * * * *

 3  Single-parent families correlate to higher crime rates

In 1995, Dr. Patrick Fagan wrote a seminal summary of the situation: "Over the past thirty years, the rise in violent crime parallels the rise in families abandoned by fathers... High-crime neighborhoods are characterized by high concentrations of families abandoned by fathers... The rate of violent teenage crime corresponds with the number of families abandoned by fathers...

"Neighborhoods with a high degree of religious practice are not high-crime neighborhoods... Even in high-crime inner-city neighborhoods, well over 90 percent of children from safe, stable homes do not become delinquents. By contrast only 10 percent of children from unsafe, unstable homes in these neighborhoods avoid crime... Criminals capable of sustaining marriage gradually move away from a life of crime after they get married."

Of 23 peer-reviewed U.S. studies since 2000, 20 found that family structure directly affects crime and/or delinquency.

"[R]esearch strongly suggests both that young adults and teens raised in single-parent homes are more likely to commit crimes, and that communities with high rates of family fragmentation (especially unwed childbearing) suffer higher crime rates as a result."

For example, a 23-year study found that nearly 90% of the change in violent crime rates can be attributed to the change in percentages of out-of-wedlock births (divorce rates, on the other hand, had no relationship with crime).

In The Atlantic Monthly, Barbara Dafoe Whitehead noted that the "relationship [between single-parent families and crime] is so strong that controlling for family configuration erases the relationship between race and crime and between low income and crime. This conclusion shows up time and again in the literature. The nation's mayors, as well as police officers, social workers, probation officers, and court officials, consistently point to family break up as the most important source of rising rates of crime."

Let me repeat the most important statement -- "controlling for family configuration erases the relationship between race and crime and between low income and crime."

Single-parent families generally lead to increased levels of crime; and there are no significant differences between blacks, whites, or any other race when it comes to this simple fact.

* * * * * * * * *

 4  Recap:

• Fact: There are a record number of Americans dependent upon government anti-poverty programs thanks to the Obama Democrats
• Fact: Expanded access to welfare and food stamps greatly increases the number of children born to unwed mothers
• Fact: Single-parent families correlate to higher crime rates
Conclusion: with the unprecedented increase in welfare, food stamps and unemployment, we will also see an unparalleled increase in violent crime within the next dozen or so years.

Obama and his Democrats sycophants in Congress will have created hundreds of thousands of single-parent families. These kids, born out-of-wedlock, will find themselves trapped in lives of criminality at far higher rates than kids from two-parent families.

Fast forward a dozen years, give or take a couple, and we will see a true Obama Crime Wave. I predict that we will see an unprecedented increase in crime. In fact, you could call it historic.

The most important question is not whether it will happen. The question is how bad it will get.


Just two weeks before QE2 ends, Russia becomes third major country to announce it will dump U.S. Treasury holdings

Tyler Durden asks, "Are we and Bill Gross (and certainly not Morgan Stanley) the only ones to see a problem with this"?

Just in time for the end of QE2, when the US needs every possible foreign buyer of US debt to step up to the plate, we get confirmation that yet another major foreign central bank has decided to not only not add to its US debt holdings, but to actively sell US Treasurys... The WSJ reports that "Russia will likely continue lowering its U.S. debt holdings as Washington struggles to contain a budget deficit and bolster a tepid economic recovery..."

Well, with Russia out, at least we have China and Japan continuing to buy US debt.... Oh wait, China is contemplating dumping two thirds of its debt you say? And the biggest buyer of Japanese bonds is now in the process of selling Japanese bonds in the open market for the first time (so not really in the market of US bonds)...

Well, surely US households will step up to the plate. After all they all have so much "cash on the sidelines" courtesy of the RecoveryTM ©® that they can't wait to dump it all into paper yielding less than 3% a year, and has negative real rates of return. Wait, what's that: according to the Fed, in Q1 US "households" sold $1.1 trillion annualized in Treasurys to the Fed?

So, let's get this straight: China, Japan, and now very much openly Russia, the three countries with the largest financial reserves in the world, are threatening, if not already dumping US bonds, just in time for US households to sell their holdings of US paper to Brian Sack. And this is happening 2 weeks before QE2 ends... Um... Are we and Bill Gross (and certainly not Morgan Stanley) the only ones to see a problem with this?

Those rumbling sounds you heard in the background are Ben Bernanke's printing presses preparing to initiate Quantitative Easings III, IV, V, ad infinitum...

Got Weimar?


Larwyn's Linx: NYT - Obama overruled lawyers on Libya war powers

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

NYT: Obama overruled lawyers on Libya war powers: Hot Air
The Hope and Change We've Been Waiting For!: Power Line
Operation 'Fast and Furious' the last straw against Holder: AT

Obama's the Target of Mexico Gunrunning Probe: Hedgecock
Why Weiner was Dumped: Surber
“Why Aren’t You Speaking English?”: KRTH

Economy

Waivergate: How's this for a weekend news dump?: Malkin
Why Does Obama Want to Destroy 265,000 Jobs?: Foundry
IMF cuts U.S. growth forecast, warns of crisis: Yahoo!

AARP: Money First, Seniors Second: AT
Abolish the NLRB and the NLRA: Cato
White House Chief of Staff on Economy: Blurts out the Truth: Malkin

Execs Give Daley Hell Over Obama's Hatred of Business: Lid
Blunders and Bundlers: Obama donors want serious rewards: PJM
IL: So broke, they're selling ads on license plates: RWN

Climate & Energy

Scientists Agree, Salon Is Making Fake Claims To Spread Climate Change Hoax : Lid
A blunder of staggering proportions by the IPCC: WUWT
Shocker: Obama Admin Objects to Alaska Oil and Gas Development Bill: BlogProf

Media

ABC on Terror Suspect, Everything But a Muslim: 'Marine', 'Marine Reservist', 'Ethiopian', 'Lone Wolf': NB
Weiner’s woes: No skillz to pay the billz: Malkin
In lieu of prison, bring back the lash: WaPo

Is Obama playing political football with gay Americans?: GayPatriot
Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher Given Fake IDs --- a Weinergate Post-Mortem: Patterico
Palin Decision Expected Next Week -- Or Not: AmSpec

Palin for the defense: A judge can look at a kingmaker: Riehl
Cain: I left the RNC plantation a long time ago: Shark Tank
FBI launches manhunt forweight-loss physician accused of Medicaid, insurance fraud: Trib

World

The DOJ’s politically correct terrorist press releases: Creeping
Christian Groups Physically Attacked in Dearborn, Michigan: Atlas
Saudi Women Drivers: They Shall Overcome: Patterico

End of the Middle East Christian?: Katz
Obama’s Full-Court Press on Israel: PJM
Madrassa tries to convert 8-year-old Christian to Islam; uncle who defended attacked for 'blasphemy': JihadWatch

Sheila Jackson Lee Diverts Islamic Terror Hearings Into Attack on Christians: MB
United Nations Endorses Gay And Transgender Rights, Islamic States Protest: RWN
Bond Market Rejects Greek Solution Already: Mish

SciTech

Can the iPad Unlock Autism’s Mysteries?: PJM
Time-Traveling Male Sea Monkeys Make Bad Mates: Wired
Top-rated reviews of the week (photos): CNet

Cornucopia

Mr. Pinko presents: The Ultimate SARAH PALIN is a MORON video: iOTW
Pimp Suit Alert: James O’Keefe Will Be Crashing Netroots Nation Conference: TSG
In Reality, a Lightsaber Battle Would Never Last More than a Second: IMAO

Image: Zombie
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Take the Cut, Cap, Balance Pledge!

Friday, June 17, 2011

The most important link you will click on this year

No kidding. I'll be blunt: I don't trust the feckless House leadership. They're already talking about a $2 trillion budget cut deal with Democrats in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling.

Translation: those "cuts" will occur over ten (10) years... and the GOP will "meet in the middle" with $1 trillion in cuts. And those will be mostly bogus, like the pathetic budget deal John Boehner agreed to a few months ago. When fully reviewed, we found that it actually added to the deficit!

The only leverage Republicans have is the debt ceiling. And that debt ceiling must. Not. Be. Lifted without serious reforms like those Jim DeMint (R-SC) has proposed.

Despite our nation’s staggering $14.4 trillion debt, the Obama Administration and the Democratic leadership in the Congress want to raise our nation’s debt limit without any spending cuts or reforms.


We believe that this is a fiscally irresponsible position that would place America on the Road to Ruin. At the same time, we believe that the current debate over raising the debt limit provides a historic opportunity to focus public attention, and then public policy, on a path to a balanced budget and paying down our debt.

We believe the Republican Study Committee’s “Cut, Cap, Balance” plan for substantial spending cuts in FY 2012, a statutory spending cap, and the passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution is the minimum necessary precondition to raising the debt limit. The ultimate goal is to get us back to a point where increases in the debt limit are no longer necessary.

If you agree, take the Cut, Cap, Balance Pledge!

Please join me: sign the pledge.

Failure to raise the debt ceiling will not mean financial catastrophe, despite the bizarre claims of our tax-troubled Treasury Secretary and our utterly feckless Fed Chairman. It will simply mean that President Obama and his budget-less Democrats will have to reorder spending. Furlough the bloated bureaucracy. And other steps that should have been taken decades ago.


Photos: Insane Plane-Spotting Tourists on the Island of St. Maarten

Need a haircut?

Located on the Dutch side of the island St. Maarten in the Caribbean, Maho Beach is famous as a favorite location for plane spotters...

Duck! Thrill-seeking people are heading to a beach on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, where Boeing 747s fly so low that they darken the skies. A perfect and unique way to start your day in St. Maarten, without coffee...

...Because of Maho Beach's close proximity to Princess Juliana International Airport, airplanes must fly at a minimal altitude in order to touch down on the short runways.

The beach contains a popular resort and several beach bars...

[A] low approach of a Boeing 747 on the tiny island of St. Maarten thrilling adventurous tourists on Maho Beach...

A sign posted on a nearby fence reveals the dangers of plane-spotting.

I hope there aren't strong wind gusts when the tourists are out playing.


Hat tip: TReed.

Larwyn's Linx: Operation Fast and Furious should end Holder tenure

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

Operation Fast and Furious should end Holder tenure: Exam
Scandal: ‘Gunwalker’ Much Worse Than ‘Iran-Contra’: PJM
Bachmann and the Empathy Card: Power Line

Arab Spring protest in S.F.: unexpected twist ending: Zombie
When is a hate crime not a hate crime?: Sondrakistan
Dick Armey Stuns Tea Party With Open-Borders Work: NUSA

Today in GOP stupidity: Ace
My take on the latest Republican polls: Barone
Weiner’s Pension, Benefits Could Top $1 Million: Roll Call

Economy

The Economy Dems Now Own: IBD
Union leader slurs "Adolph" Christie: Toldjah
Cain: Obama’s NLRB an ‘Assault on the Free Market System’: RWN

Obama green car mandate cost: $10K per car, 260,000 jobs: WZ
Cali retailers: Hobble Amazon like you hobble us!: BSF
California Whoa: Sondrakistan

Workers Have It Much Better at Nonunionized Subaru: RWN
IMF "Ready and Willing" to Throw Away More Money: Mish
Could Greek default destroy U.S. money market funds?: McArdle

Climate & Energy

The plot thickens – The IPCC and ideological green money-laundering: WUWT
Obama's Oil Flip and Flop: WZ
The Imperium not backing down: Cold Fury

Media

David Frum, Politico: Trash Talk Radio for Cash?: AmSpec
Aww: WaPo Hack E.J. Dionne Feeling Nostalgic for Bush: JWF
MSM assumes the position, Bachmann wins: Hale

Among the Truthers: Driscoll
NY Times Finally Discusses Obama’s Golf Image And How Bad It Looks: RWN
So much for rehab: Weiner and wife head to Hamptons: Post

Obama's Legacy of Failure: ConBlkChk
We Hated Reagan: PJM
"Progress": Liberals Still Desperately Trying To Pin Obama’s Failures On George W. Bush: Glob

World

Kucinich credits Bush for asking Congress before going to war: Hill
The Growing Conflict Over the Legality of the Libya Intervention: Instapundit
Prison Recruitment to Radical Islam: Radical

Revealed: Weiner’s In-Laws’ Secret Muslim Brotherhood Connections: PJM
Judge Allows Christian Leaflets at Arab Festival: CBN
Crazy Shelia Jackson Lee: Hey, We Need To Worry About Christian Militants, Too!: RWN

Inconvenient Truth: Cold Fury
Britain's Death Panels Deny Thousands of Breast Cancer Patients Care: GWP
Al-Qaeda Creates Hit List Of Prominent Americans With Names And Pictures, Asks For Home Addresses: WZ

SciTech

Kinect Hackers Are Changing the Future of Robotics: Wired
Study reveals scale of fake tech support call scams: Sophos
The Second Dot Com Bubble Has Now Burst: ZH

Cornucopia

Visualize whirled peas: Cold Fury
Stephen Jay Gould's Mismeasure of Man: Useful Tool for Understanding Unconscious Scientific Bias: Ace
Culled geese are bound for tables: Instapundit

Image: Weasel Zippers
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Michele Bachmann for President

QOTD: "Our first Black American president Obama missed an historic opportunity to lead. Instead he chose the path of pure partisan policies, went against the will of Americans and failed...

The Declaration of Independence instructs us that “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing is Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

The time has come for the people to change the course of this country and vote President Obama out of office in 2012." --Conservative Black Chick

Thursday, June 16, 2011

The only Vancouver riot photo you need

Until @mkhammer -- Mary Katharine Ham -- tweeted it, I didn't even know there were riots going on in Vancouver.

She says that this is the only Vancouver riot picture you need.

I agree.


It's not Grandma that got pushed off the cliff: it's President Obama's approval ratings

Remember when the Democrat Party used a cynical, disgusting ploy to demagogue Paul Ryan's plan to save Medicare? Yeah, I know: it was like five days ago. And they depicted a Ryan-lookalike pushing Grandma off a cliff. Clever, eh?

Turns out the American people are a lot smarter than the Democrats thought.

They've caught on to the massive, budget-busting failures of the 111th Congress and President Obama.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 23% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -19...

...Twenty-seven percent (27%) of Likely U.S. Voters now say the country is heading in the right direction... That's down one point from last week. In April, prior to the killing of Osama bin Laden, the number who felt the country was heading in the right direction fell into the low 20s, the lowest findings of the Obama presidency, but the figure climbed back up to 29% in early to mid-May. The number who believe the country is on the right course has ranged from a low of 21% to a high of 35% since January 2009.

...Leading up to President Obama's inauguration, the number of voters who felt the country was heading in the right direction remained below 20%. The week of his inauguration in January 2009, voter confidence rose to 27% and climbed into the low to mid-30s until mid-May of that year. Since then, belief that the country is heading in the right direction has trended lower.

How about another 'Stimulus' program, Mr. President?

Oh, that's right. You've already bankrupted the United States. Never mind.


Hat tip: The Lid.

Holy freaking crap! Rasmussen: Michele Bachmann surges to second place, Herman Cain to third in GOP primary

As Allahpundit might have put it: "Oh, my."

In the race for the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney still leads, but Michelle Bachmann has surged to second place. Herman Cain is the only other candidate in double digits...

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney continues to lead the race for the Republican nomination, but Michele Bachmann has surged into second place following her Monday night entry into the campaign.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely GOP Primary Voters, taken following the candidates’ Monday night debate, shows Romney earning 33% support, with Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann a surprise second at 19%. Georgia businessman Herman Cain is in third place with 10% of the vote...

Just 27% now believe the U.S. is generally heading in the right direction.

Say, I've been out of town for a while.

How are those Stimulus, HAMP, Cash-for-Clunkers, Weatherization, Green Jobs, Obamacare, "Banking Reform", drilling moratorium, First-Time Home-Buyer Credit, auto company takeovers and QE2 programs working out?

For you drones out there, that's a rhetorical question. As for you patriots, my beloved readers: would you like to support a true Constitutional conservative for President? Then support Michele Bachmann for President.


Image adapted from: Wintery Knight.

'Are you ready for third-world America?'

Writing at Zero Hedge, Phoenix Capital Research lays out President Obama's endgame. Spoiler: it won't end well.

The US economy is literally on the ledge of a cliff.

Today, the Federal Government accounts for 35% of incomes and salaries in the US. That’s over one third of all income in the US coming from the Government’s ability to dole out funds.

What supports this largess?

Money printing and our ongoing debt-orgy. And today, these are one and the same. The US Federal Reserve and Treasury have enacted policies so insane that the US Federal Reserve is now the single largest holder of US Debt with a balance sheet of $2.8 trillion.

Let’s give that number some perspective. Germany, the world’s FOURTH largest economy is only $3.3 trillion in size. At $2.8 trillion the Fed’s balance sheet is larger than the economies of France, the UK, and Brazil.

Why is the Fed’s balance sheet so huge? Because US Treasuries are so unattractive to foreign Governments that the Fed has had to pick up the slack and buy our debt (usually within a week or two of it being issued).

Let me rephrase that: the US Fed is now printing money so it can buy US Debt because other investors are no longer interested in buying it.

This is just one of the various schemes Washington is employing to maintain its fiscal insanity. Another is the active raiding of pension funds to buy new US Debt (YES, the Treasury is doing this).

So... the US Government is now paying over 1/3rd of US incomes… and it’s financing this by having the Fed buy new debt from the Treasury.

Do you think this entire system might end up collapsing in a horrific manner?

Unless Barack Obama is summarily voted out of office in 2012, I fear this Republic will not survive.

The laws of mathematics simply cannot be defied; and the president's failure to propose a budget, his unprecedented deficits, his failure to address collapsing entitlement programs (and, in fact, accelerating their collapse), and his non-stop attacks on the private sector (the oil, health insurance, banking, and pharmaceutical industries, to name but a few) will result in certain catastrophe.

It's not different this time and, should he win a second term, Obama's reckless, feckless, selfish leadership will almost certainly doom the most magnificent society ever seen on Earth.

And perhaps that's the intent of the man who marinated in the teachings of Frank Marshall Davis, Jeremiah Wright, Rashid Khalidi, Bill Ayers, and numerous other America-hating crackpots.

Are you motivated for 2012?


Larwyn's Linx: Scofflaw Democrats Try to Change the Subject

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. Bloggers: you can install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget!

Nation

Scofflaw Democrats Try to Change the Subject: Power Line
Nancy Pelosi Feels Your Pain: Net Worth Rose 62% Last Year: Malkin
Oh my: Dem caucus meeting turns angry over Weiner: Hot Air

Issa Rips DOJ in Hearings: AmSpec
Top 200 Obama donors get cushy government jobs, perks: Toldjah
Ted Cruz: As Good As It Gets: Will

Blue Smoke and Mirrors: Cost
Bachmann Steals the Show: Tyrrell
Democrats Call on GOP Candidate to Denounce PAC Video: RSM

Economy

Reaganomics Vs. Obamanomics: Facts And Figures: Forbes
Landry: ‘It’s More Business-Friendly In Nigeria Than' Here: HayRide
SC Boeing Employee Hits Machinist Union with Federal Charge: NRTW

Food stamp outrage of the day: Surber
Men are the biggest losers in the new economy: WashExam
GOP Senators Fight Obama for Right-to-Work Laws: O'Connor

ATMs and Other Machines are Exempt from ObamaCare: Blumer
Obama's War on Boeing: Hewitt
An Open Letter to Barack Obama: Cafe Hayek

Climate & Energy

The Lightbulb Resistance Movement: FreedomWorks
The EPA needs to get out of D.C. more often: Surber
So, Either Soros Doesn’t Want Romney or Captain Carbon Forgot How To Use The Email He Invented: CBullitt

EPA kook lashes out at utilities for spilling the beans on Obama's job-killing policies: GWP
Physicists: Earth may be headed into a mini Ice Age within a decade: HyScience
A Bill To Make Soros Richer: IBD

Media

The Sleaziness of Politico's Kenneth Vogel: Levin
So Now All These People Will Apologize To Sarah Palin About Margaret Thatcher, Right?: LegalIns
Cross-dressing Weiner pics emerge: FoxNation

Stick it out, Weiner!: Wizbang
Levin: Obama only president not to comply with War Powers Act: TRS
Politico Trumpets: Obama Returns to the 'Adoring Island' of Puerto Rico: NB

Change! CNBC: US Housing Crisis Is Now Worse Than Great Depression: Driscoll
North Carolina Becomes Third State to De-Fund Planned Parenthood: LifeNews
Weiner's wife returns home as new images emerge showing him cross-dressing and 'oiled up': Daily Mail (UK)

World

Obama Pal, Who Was Awarded $457K in Taxpayer Funds, Investigated For Terror Ties: GWP
When Is a War Not a War? When President Obama Says So: PJM
Detroit Muslims get racist on parking cop: Creeping

Obama supporter and domestic terrorist Bill Ayers denied entry to Canada: Surber
TSA blows jihad jet 'threat': Atlas
2-Year Greek Bond Yield Hits 28.15%; Investors Bet on Prospect of 'Greek Accident': Mish

SciTech

CIA website brought down by DDoS attack, LulzSec hackers claims responsibility: Sophos
Google Voice Search offers natural user input: CNet
Google's Web mapping can track your phone: CNet

Cornucopia

How Times Change: Ace
The Most Horrific Video I Have Ever Seen: Ace
Convict claims he shot Tupac Shakur in 1994 at talent agent's direction: Post

Image: Gateway Pundit
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Caddies for Obama

QOTD: "...Fannie Mae represents a special problem for the Democratic Party and Democratic ideas. It is not just a vitally important institution led by prominent Democratic figures and part of a broader Democratic patronage network; Fannie Mae is one of the original New Deal institutions and the vision it was intended to serve stands at the heart of the concerns of the Democratic Party of the 20th century.

The fall of Fannie Mae is bigger than just another politicos run wild scandal. It stands as one of several signs that our current way of life is reaching its limits and that big changes are on the horizon. The Fanniegate debacle tells us that the progressive ideal is in the process of jumping the shark." --Walter Russell Mead

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Tyrrell: Michele Bachmann steals the show

Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. lays down a straight riff.

...Explaining how she voted for Paul Ryan’s budget, she said she did so “with an asterisk” because the “asterisk is that we’ve got a huge messaging problem [on Medicare]. It needs to be called the 55-and-Under Plan. I can’t tell you the number of 78-year-old women who think we’re going to pull the rug out from under them.”

Mrs. Bachmann has faced up to the Democrats’ gaudy lie that people, aged 56 and over, are facing Medicare cuts with the Ryan Plan. They are not, not with the Ryan budget. Though with the Obamacare Plan we are all facing the eclipse of Medicare. Medicare will be slashed for everyone very soon, and that is written into the President’s policy...

In her interview with the Journal Mrs. Bachmann explained that she is versed in the economists: Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman. You cannot get much better than that, and I saved Friedman for last. He is the modern master in understanding the modern economy.

...The Liberals have, like a vast shoal of squid, spread an inky cloud over the financial meltdown. Mrs. Bachmann dispels the darkness regarding its origins. Says she, “There were a lot of bad actors involved, but it started with the Community Reinvestment Act under Jimmy Carter and then the enhanced amendments that Bill Clinton made to force, in effect, banks to make loans to people who lacked creditworthiness. If you want to come down to a bottom line of ‘How did we get in this mess?’ I think it was a reduction in standards.” Whereupon she goes on to say, “Being of the Financial Services Committee, I can assure you, all roads lead to Freddie and Fannie,” the mortgage lenders; and off she goes talking about Constitutional limits. She has a Tea Partyer’s proper concern for the Constitution.

The other night it is said that no one really stood out. I disagree. The pulchritudinous Michele Bachmann stole the show. She was charismatic and eloquent. She got the most attention and she had only been in the race a few minutes. Give her a few more debates, and we shall see just how ready she is for a national run.

Of the declared candidates, my top three are Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain and Rick Santorum. Any one of them would crush Barack Obama in a debate. Any. One. Of. Them.


Hat tip: Dan. You can donate to Michele here.